Godey Murahari Was a Spirited Parliamentarian

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28-05-2025

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Godey Murahari Was a Spirited Parliamentarian
Qurban Ali
9 minutes ago
He had been deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha and also deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha. Murahari was also the first parliamentarian to be suspended and expelled physically from the Rajya Sabha.
Godey Murahari (May 20, 1926-August 5, 1982). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
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This article is part of a series by The Wire titled ' The Early Parliamentarians ', exploring the lives and work of post-independence MPs who have largely been forgotten. The series looks at the institutions they helped create, the enduring ideas they left behind and the contributions they made to nation building.
Godey Murahari was a veteran freedom fighter who participated in the 'Quit India' Movement and suffered imprisonment. He was a socialist leader and parliamentarian who had been deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha and also, deputy speaker of Lok Sabha. He also earned the reputation of being the first parliamentarian to be suspended and expelled physically from the Rajya Sabha by the Marshal of the House.
Godey Murahari was born to G. Gangaraju on May 20, 1926, in Jamshedpur, Bihar (now Jharkhand). He belonged to the Perike (Puragiri Kshatriya), a backward caste in Andhra Pradesh. He was educated at Banaras Hindu University and Pachiappa's College, Madras.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.
Murahari was a member of the Congress party during 1941-47 and was also in the Socialist Group of the party till it separated from the Congress in 1948. He was jailed in 1943 in connection with the 'Quit India' movement and turned out from the Banaras district for over two years till the establishment of the interim government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1946. He underwent jail terms thrice for activities connected with the Socialist Party in independent India.
Murahari was a socialist and close to Rammanohar Lohia. He was secretary of the All India Samajwadi Yuvak Sabha from 1957-58, general secretary of the All India Socialist Party from 1958-59, and member of its national executive and secretary of the Socialist Party's Central Parliamentary Board from 1961-63.
Being a resident of Uttar Pradesh, Murahari was first elected Member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh as a Socialist Party nominee in 1962. He was re-elected to Rajya Sabha as Socialist Party candidate in 1968. Later, he joined the Congress and was elected as Congress MP to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh from 1968 to 1977 and was deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha from 1972 to 1977.
He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee from 1966 to 68 and a member of the Committee on Public Undertakings from 1968 to 70.He was also member of the Institute of Social Culture and Jana Manch Madras from 1950 to 57, vice-president of the Constitution Club of India, and member of the National Shipping Board from 1970 to 71. He led the Indian delegation to the Congress of the International Union of Socialist Youth at Copenhagen and to the Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany at Berlin in 1954.
Murahari was known for his unruly behaviour when he was a member of opposition. He was suspended on September 3, 1962, for the remainder of the session over this. He refused to walk out and had to be physically removed by the Marshal of the House.
Murahari was suspended for unruly conduct again on July 25, 1966. This time, he was suspended along with fellow MP Raj Narain from the Rajya Sabha for one week by two separate motions moved by leader of the House M.C. Chagla and adopted by the House. Both refused to walk out and were removed by Marshals. The next day, the Rajya Sabha chairperson expressed his concern over the incident and leaders of the parties expressed regret.
In 1977, he resigned from Rajya Sabha and was elected to the Lok Sabha as Congress party candidate from Vijayawada. Being a member of the main opposition party Congress, he was elected deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha on April 1, 1977.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
On his unopposed election, then Speaker Neelam Sanjiva Reddy had said:
'I am happy to join honourable Members in felicitating Shri Godey Murahari on his election as the Deputy Speaker of this august House.My congratulations to him.Shri Murahari comes to this House with a rich experience of parliamentary life in the other House. To me personally, it is a matter of satisfaction to have an experienced colleague like Shri Murahari to share the responsibilities of the Chair. In parliamentary democracy, Presiding officers are naturally expected to maintain high standards of impartiality and integrity' in the performance of their duties so as to inspire confidence among all sections of the House and among all members irrespective of their party affiliations. While ensuring the orderly conduct of the business and its timely completion, we have to take particular care to see that all sections cf the House have adequate opportunity to put forward their view-points and have no legitimate cause to grievance on that count. I again heartily congratulate Shri Murahari and wish him well.'
In his thanksgiving speech Murahari had said:
'Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am deeply grateful to all the colleagues who have just spoken as well to you. I know that as the Deputy Speaker of this House I will have to exercise the utmost impartiality that is expected of a Presiding Officer and I shall endeavour to do so as I did in the other House. Let me assure everybody in this House-whether they are sitting on the other side or this side-that as far as I am concerned, henceforward I belong to all sections of the House and not to any particular section. As far as you are concerned, I have had some association with you while being in Parliamentary delegations or otherwise and all my experiences has been very pleasant. I know that in the conduct of my duties here as Deputy Speaker you will be guiding me as an elder brother and giving me the utmost affection that I can get from anybody, especially in view of the earlier association that we have had while you were Speaker of this House. We have just passed through one of the greatest experiments in democracy (after emergency) and come out as one of the biggest democracies that have experimental in the general election in a free and fair manner.
'I am sure the will of the people as reflected in this House will be respected by all sections of political opinion. I am sure, in the conduct of business in this House, we as Presiding Officers have a very onerous task because we have to keep a very delicate balance between what goes on in the House and the aspirations of the people outside. I am very conscious that even while serving as Presiding Officer, I must be conscious of the people's aspirations and try to see that this House reflects the aspirations of the people outside. And, therefore, I can assure you with whatever little capacity I may be serving here I shall endeavour to keep these ideals in view and try to make the experiment of parliamentary democracy in this country as successful as it should be and I expect all sections of the House would give me their cooperation because I know many people sitting on the other side are friends and colleagues with whom I have worked even outside this House. As a matter of fact, with many of them I had started my politics, and, therefore, I am very confident that in the conduct of my duties as Deputy Speaker, I shall not only get the cooperation from the Treasury Benches but the side to which I belong now.
'At the same time I am conscious of the fact that it is not always the Opposition that needs protection from the Chair, sometimes it is the Treasury Benches —I think, many times it is the Treasury Benches that require protection from the Chair, because when the Opposition forms the Ministry it is often times the Chair which has to protect the Treasury Benches. I am conscious of all these factors while I take up the duties of the Deputy Speaker. I Once again thank everyone who has spoken as well as you for felicitations.'
Godey Murahari passed away at New Delhi on August 5, 1982 at the age of 56.
Paying rich tributes to him, then speaker of the Lok Sabha Balram Jakhar said on August 6, 1982:
'I have to inform the House of the sad demise of Shri Godey Murahari, a Member of 6th Lok Sabha and a former Deputy Speaker. Shri Godey Murahari was elected to the 6th Lok Sabha from the Vijayawada constituency of Andhra Pradesh. He was a Member of the National Shipping Board in 1970-71 and was associated with several national and international Organisations viz. Inter-Parliamentary Union, Commission on National Legislatures, World Constitution and Parliamentary Association, Indian Parliamentary Group, etc. A veteran and keen Parliamentarian, he made a mark as an able Presiding Officer. He passed away at New Delhi on 5 August, 1982 at the age of 56 years. We deeply mourn the loss of this friend and I am sure the House will join me in conveying our Condolences to the bereaved family.'
Godey Murahari was also vice-president of the Indian Parliamentary Group, member of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva, and was also chairman of the Commission on National Legislatures, World Constitution and Parliamentary Association.
Besides being a veteran parliamentarian he has interests in journalism, youth and cultural activities. He edited the weekly Young World from 1956 to 1957, and was publisher of the monthlies Mankind and Jan. The latter was edited by Lohia.
Qurban Ali is a trilingual journalist who has covered some of modern India's major political, social and economic developments. He has a keen interest in India's freedom struggle and is now documenting the history of the socialist movement in the country.
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